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Mindful Expat, with Dana Nelson, Ph.D.

About This Show

Show Info:
Mindful Expat is a weekly podcast show designed for those living abroad to provide you with weekly guideposts for emotional wellbeing and resilience in your international life and to help you make the most of your inner and outer journeys. Living abroad presents us with unique challenges, but also equally unique opportunities for personal growth and development. Psychologist and expat counselor, Dana Nelson, Ph.D., shares insights on emotional wellbeing for overseas adventurers and brings you interviews with experts on topics related to intercultural relationships, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), mindfulness, self-compassion, emotional resilience, self-care, and personal growth.

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Most Recent Episode

ME40: Divided By a Common Language: The Role of Language in Cultural Adaptation (With Guest: Claire Handscombe)

Mar 4
·
54 minutes

Today’s Mindful Expat Guest is Claire Handscombe! Claire is a freelance writer, blogger, and fellow-podcaster (host of The Brit Lit Podcast) living in Washington, DC. Born in London to a British father and French mother, Claire then spent much of her early adolescence in Belgium before returning to the UK at the age of 12. She later returned to Belgium as a young adult, before moving to DC to do her MFA in Creative Writing at American University. From 2005-2012, Claire taught English, French, and Spanish to adults of all levels in both London and Brussels. In 2011, she published a book called Conquering Babel: A Practical Guide to Learning a Language. What you’ll hear in this episode: • Claire's experiences of moving abroad to countries where she spoke the language, but where subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle!) language differences still impacted her cultural adaptation. • We discuss the interplay of language and culture, including some metalinguistic cultural differences that can lead to misunderstandings. • Claire's experiences of the differences in academic cultures between the UK and the US. • A discussion of why it's important to learn at least the basics of the language where you're living and some of the ways doing so can positively impact your life. Resources mentioned in today’s episode: • Claire recommended Passion Planner as a helpful resource that she uses to think about her goals for the future and break them down into manageable steps. • Claire also mentioned the website Wordery, an online bookshop offering original editions of books from around the world -- with free delivery to anywhere in the world! • Claire's personal essay, "How to Be British," (which we mentioned toward the end of our conversation and which is great!) can be found here. • To learn more about Claire's book, Conquering Babel: A Practical Guide to Learning a Langu